Hacking question - high hedge with crazies behind it!

[canteron]

I am not the most confident rider, but do hack out on my generally sweet natured horse, but tell me, how would you ride past this.

At one point on a narrow lane, I go past a house with a high hedge, with lots of thick gravel behind it. The owner is a tad mad, and there is always something scary going on behind this hedge. We have had screaming rows with things being thrown, wheelie bins being dragged across it, hedge cutters started up as you get level, etc etc.

My horse now is a bit of a giraffe going past it and today we had our first mini rear - she wanted to bugger off when she heard the gravel crunch, I thought we should wait and show her it was unlikely to kill us.

How would you ride past and deal with scary house. Interested in the techniques you use.

 

[Roxylola]

Being shod helps as I'd trot past - I often find if a horse is being a bit noise sensitive creating their own noise is much nicer for them.
Or those rhythm beads you can get
Or play some music on your phone as you ride
Or sing/chat
Some sort of noise cancelling for horse ears

 

[reynold]

Make sure you aren't putting any of your tension/worry down the reins to your horse.

Ride forward without grabbing hold of the head

 

[Caol Ila]

You do lots of groundwork and horsemanship to get them to focus on you and send them forward. I regularly ride down a lane with high fences and hedges, and there are often things going on behind the walls and hedges. Kids playing soccer, hedge cutting, lawn mowing, gardening, the normal stuff people with big yards do. Never heard a screaming row from those houses, though. Horses might get startled at a sudden noise, but for the most part they are fine.

 

[Polos Mum]

If it's noise related then have a good loud chat with her about the weather or weekend plans - or if it's bad ears on might help.

no harm in trotting that 30 meters to avoid being right next to it when things start up.

Or go the other way and take here there in hand and let her graze the verge opposite and get used to it being a nice place vs a place where crazy stuff happened.


We used to keep pigs and the horses never bothered with them at all when they could see them (indeed one would lean over and lick the pigs in summer!). But when we hacked past their field (hedges in full leaf) and they could hear the pigs but not see them - they were all on their toes,

I tried as much as humanly possible to ignore it and just be prepared not to get out of balance if they jumped forward a little.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I'd ride forward with purpose and not think about it. My horse is civilised enough to trust me when I say it's OK and nothing to worry about.
9/10 it's the rider creating the issue by reacting to whatever is going on.
You can't control what goes on on other people's private property, and I don't agree with screaming at people for going about their business on their own property. You can only control how you react and therefore how your horse reacts.
Things like starring hedge cutters as you go past are inconsiderate but you're very unlikely to get them to be more considerate by screaming at them.
Asking them nicely and calmly and thanking them might get a better reaction.

 

[Caol Ila]

I'd ride forward with purpose and not think about it. My horse is civilised enough to trust me when I say it's OK and nothing to worry about.
9/10 it's the rider creating the issue by reacting to whatever is going on.
You can't control what goes on on other people's private property, and I don't agree with screaming at people for going about their business on their own property. You can only control how you react and therefore how your horse reacts.
Things like starring hedge cutters as you go past are inconsiderate but you're very unlikely to get them to be more considerate by screaming at them.
Asking them nicely and calmly and thanking them might get a better reaction.

I didn't read the OP as meaning that she was having screaming rows with the people in the house. I read it as meaning that the people in the house were having screaming rows with one another, and the horse was spooking at the domestic happening behind the hedge.

 

[9tails]

Make sure your horse is conditioned as well as she can be to the goings on at the yard, this helps enormously when out and about. My yard manager would turn the tractor off if we went past, nice gesture but I've asked him to not make the effort for my horse. Same with the cherry picker, leaf blower, strimmer; keep them going because she needs to see and process these things. I would take a contact, but not a strong one, maybe a bit of leg yield towards the noise so she doesn't banana away, chat to her in a normal voice about what's going on "Don't worry it's just a hedge trimmer, not a horse trimmer. Nearly there, just a few more strides. You're doing amazing. Well done!" Light pat, carry on.

 

[Tarragon]

We once had a lady using one of those throwing sticks to throw a toy for her dog, all hidden behind a wall. So all we could see was an object flying out above the wall, and then heard an amazing series of funny squeaks, getting louder and louder, as the dog fetched and returned their squeaky toy! The wall was treated with great suspicion after that
Honestly, you cannot train for everything you might meet, you can only train them to have the confidence that you will look after them whatever happens.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I didn't read the OP as meaning that she was having screaming rows with the people in the house. I read it as meaning that the people in the house were having screaming rows with one another, and the horse was spooking at the domestic happening behind the hedge.

Oh I see, sorry if I misread OP!

 

[stormox]

Kick on - better to gallop past than stop...

 

[rextherobber]

Make sure your horse is conditioned as well as she can be to the goings on at the yard, this helps enormously when out and about. My yard manager would turn the tractor off if we went past, nice gesture but I've asked him to not make the effort for my horse. Same with the cherry picker, leaf blower, strimmer; keep them going because she needs to see and process these things. I would take a contact, but not a strong one, maybe a bit of leg yield towards the noise so she doesn't banana away, chat to her in a normal voice about what's going on "Don't worry it's just a hedge trimmer, not a horse trimmer. Nearly there, just a few more strides. You're doing amazing. Well done!" Light pat, carry on.

This - take your horse to as many potentially scary/unusual things you can. Do plenty of groundwork , and as previously mentioned, just stay calm and ride forward in trot if you have to.

 

[PeterNatt]

The secret is to be completely laid back and not transmit your concerns to your horse, although i appreciate that this may be difficult. Also expose your horse repeatedly to scary things and situations so that your horse just become used to them. Every horse is different. I could ride my horse by himself through central London and he would not worry about anything yet when we bumped in to a newly made snowman he just could not cope!

 

[Barton Bounty]

Id start singing to her about 5 minutes form the area, or play music to keep her brain occupied. Id also be inclined to trot or just even walk quickly past it

 

[SEL]

I've got a cracking rendition of 10 green bottles for situations like this. Given I can't sing it often shuts up the people behind the hedge too while they work out what the racket is.

I have also got off baby cob when I could feel his anxiety bubbling up. Me on the ground stomping past just gave him more confidence that the scary thing would eat me first.

 

[SDMabel]

Perfect way to get them used to 'scary' situations / bomb-proofing ! I'd trot past, don't come up to it expecting something awful to happen look at it as a training exercise !

If you feel tense going past, my mum used to make me sing out loud to distract myself ... (although that does potentially put you in the same group as the crazies ) . Or take a leadrope and hop off going past if you can get back on afterwards if really worried ?

My mare is a bit of a strange one and actually likes a moment to just gather her thoughts if we see something scary, so we stop, she gets a neck scratch and gentle encouragement and 9/10 walks on normally afterwards - but appreciate this wont work for them all !

 

[canteron]

Thanks everyone …. good ideas …. and Sossigpoker definitely not me doing the screaming and throwing, I need both hands on the reins for starters

 

[littleshetland]

High hedges with a bouncey trampoline just the other side with shrieking, over excited kids pinging up and down...hilarious!
I find shoulder in quite useful - just try and get horse to focus on you and keep really, really relaxed and keep going forwards.

ETA ....giant size inflatable Santas' at Xmas time, also hilarious (not).

 

[SantaVera]

I've got a cracking rendition of 10 green bottles for situations like this. Given I can't sing it often shuts up the people behind the hedge too while they work out what the racket is.

I have also got off baby cob when I could feel his anxiety bubbling up. Me on the ground stomping past just gave him more confidence that the scary thing would eat me first.

This

 

[Lucky Snowball]

Can you ride the route in reverse so you’re passing it on the way home. Until horse and rider get more confident

 

[Peglo]

I would also hand graze at the hedge in the hope I could eavesdrop on their screaming matches.

A treat usually lets me know wether mines looking to spook or actually spooking and gets her attention back to me.